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Thursday, October 29, 2026Oct 29

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Cooper: With no one in sight in which to place trust, a crisis can turn cynical

Associated Press File Photo / The World Health Organization announced Monday it was "very rare" for the COVID-19 virus to be spread through people with asymptomatic cases.
Associated Press File Photo / The World Health Organization announced Monday it was "very rare" for the COVID-19 virus to be spread through people with asymptomatic cases. Associated Press File Photo / The World Health Organization announced Monday it was "very rare" for the COVID-19 virus to be spread through people with asymptomatic cases.

If people around the world are facing a crisis of confidence, it’s no wonder.

On Monday, the head of the World Health Organization’s emerging disease and zoonosis unit said it is “very rare” for people with asymptomatic cases of COVID-19 to spread the virus.

If that were true, and the official said more research must be done to confirm it, the suggestion that everyone stay at home, wear masks and shut down the economy falls apart. In other words, a global recession may have been caused unnecessarily.

Admittedly, it is a lot to swallow, though you can find people who have said similar things for months.

The World Health Organization (WHO) official, Maria Van Kerkhove, said public health organizations should be focused on symptomatic individuals, should isolate them, should follow their contacts and should isolate those individuals. Doing so would drastically reduce the outbreak, she said.